Syphon tube



Oct. 6, 1970 w OLSON ET AL SYPHON TUBE Filed April 10, 1968 f. BY 4 AITVTYORNEY United States Patent O 3,532,257 SYPHON TUBE Walter J. Olson, Bloomfield, and William F. Wismar, Union, N.J., assignors to Walter Kidde & Company, Inc., Belleville, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 10, 1968, Ser. No. 720,218 Int. Cl. B65d 83/00 US. Cl. 222-394 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container having an outlet opening axially disposed in a horizontal plane and a syphon tube arranged to be positioned in a lowermost portion of the container regardless of how the container is oriented with respect to the horizontally disposed axis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to containers for confining a fluid medium under pressure which is to be discharged therefrom, and more particularly to a syphon tube arrangement or assembly for the container.

Description of the prior art Heretofore, such containers have been provided with syphon tubes which extended close to the bottom of the containers when in a vertical position. Also, syphon tubes have been devised which functioned when the container was in a vertical position or tilted at an angle to the vertical. A recent requirement is that the container at all times should be positioned with its outlet at one end axially disposed in a horizontal plane, that is, if the container is generally cylindrical, the longitudinal axis thereof should be in a horizontal plane, and to be effective discharge the contents of the container. None of the syphon tube arrangements previously devised were capable of functioning in this manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a syphon tube assembly or arrangement which functions in the aforementioned manner.

Another object is to provide such a syphon tube assembly or arrangement which can be used in connection with containes of cylindrical, elliptical or spherical shape.

A further object is to provide such a syphon tube assembly or arrangement which is simple, practical and economical in construction, and which is reliable in operation.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objects are generally accomplished by providing an arrangement which comprises in combination a container for confining fluid medium under pressure such as halogenated hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide or pressurized freeflowing dry powder, the container having a circular zone on its inner wall surface and an outlet opening at all times disposed in a horizontal plane; tubular socket means in the outlet opening; an arcuate syphon tube; tubular ball means on one end of the syphon tube and disposed for rotary movement in the socket means; and weight means on the other end of the syphon tube having a surface adjacent the circular zone and having an inlet open- 3,532,257 Patented Oct. 6, 1970 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single figure is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of a container equipped with a syphon tube arrangement or assembly in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is shown a container 10 having a cylindrical body 11 and a hemispherical or dome-like end section 12 in which is provided a tubular outlet opening or neck 14. Suitable means are provided for sealing the outlet opening and rendering the sealing means ineffective herein generally disclosed as a disc 15 and a cutter 16 arranged to discharge the contents of the container through an outlet 17 to which conduit means (not shown) are connected.

Tubular socket means 18 are disposed in the outlet opening or neck 14 which include a cylindrical section 19 in the neck, a socket section 20 facing the interior of the container, and an O-ring 21 for providing a seal.

A syphon tube assembly is provided which comprises an arcuate or bent tube 22, a tubular ball member 24 secured to one end of the tube and disposed in the bracket section 20 for tilting and rotary movement therein, and a tubular weight member 25 secured to the other end of the tube having a surface 26 closely adjacent or in contact with a circular zone on the inner wall of the container indicated herein by the broken line 27 and having an inlet opening 28 closely adjacent the surface 26 and the circular zone 27 for conducting substantially complete discharge of the medium under pressure from the container to its outlet 17.

Lubrication is provided between the socket section 20 and the ball member 24 to enable the ball member and the tube 22 to swivel freely so that the weight member 25 is maintained in a lowermost position in the circular zone 27 regardless of the position in which the container is oriented with respect to the horizontally disposed axis to thereby enable the syphon tube arrangement to function at all times to effect discharge of the contents of the container.

SUMMATION From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides a simple and practical syphon tube assembly for containers having its longitudinal or polar axis disposed in a horizontal plane to assure discharge of its contents.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and Without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a container for confining fluid medium under pressure having a narrow circular zone on its inner wall surface and an outlet opening at all times axially disposed in a horizontal plane, tubular socket means in said outlet opening, an arcuate rigid syphon tube, tubular ball means on one end of said syphon tube and disposed for rotary and tilting movement in said socket means, and tubular weight means on the other end of said syphon tube having a surface in contact only with said circular zone and having an inlet opening for said syphon tube adjacent said surface, said weight means being maintained in a lowermost position in said circular zone regardless of the position in which said container is oriented with respect to a horizontally disposed axis to thereby enable said syphon tube to function at all times to efiect discharge of the contents of said container.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said container has a cylindrical body provided with a domelike end section in which said outlet opening is formed, and said circular zone is located in said section adjacent said body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,526,445 2/1925 Wilbur 222376 3,088,680 5/1963 Fulton et a1 222-376 X 3,454,229 7/ 1969 Armond 2395' 87 X ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner N. L. STACK, JR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 222494 

